Photos: Diplo on the Most Important Musicians and Places in His Life

When Diplo started performing in 2005, he tells VanityFair.com, he “never thought I would have any career out of it. For me, it was better than driving a delivery truck, or trying to make rent from a few odd jobs I could manage in Philly.” But over the past seven years, his career in music has flourished, and in a new book released this spring—called 128 Beats Per Minute: Diplo’s Visual Guide to Music, Culture, and Everything in Between (Rizzoli)—the musician, producer, and D.J. traces his rise. “This book documents the people that have affected my life, and sets up the weird world I’ve been part of—from production to touring, to documenting the places that have made my short career,” he says. Click to view photographs and commentary from our travel diarist.

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“The cover photo was from my first gig in Ibiza. This was a few years back, and there weren’t any other American D.J.’s there. Very few Americans even knew what that island is—now, everyone mentions it in rap hooks. I still don’t know if I belonged there—I jumped off the rock and got stung by a lot of jellyfish that day, but it was worth it.”

“In Madrid—in a county that has had the same minimal techno sound for a decade in the raves—there is a young party called Zombie Kids. These graphic designers and artists have put the biggest party together in that city—a weekly event where 2,000 kids attend and where anything goes. It’s one of my favorite parties to play in Europe.”

“I first met my photographer Shane in Philly when he came to document our first Mad Decent block party. I didn’t even realize how special the parties were until I saw Shane’s pictures, and we began the idea of putting this book together. There were 3,000 kids in my front yard dancing and playing basketball and drinking. Here is Maluca and Amanda Blank playing double Dutch. [We] set up the stage on the corner of Spring Garden Street.”

“This is Dillon Francis, a young artist we signed in 2010 to be one of the stars of the label. His sound was very trendsetting, as he brought the tempo from 128 to 110 [beats per minute], and kept a party at boiling point.”

“I’ve been lucky to work with many artists in the past six years—too many to count, but one group that really stuck with me was the XX. In 2009, I went to the studio with these kids after they’d just been signed by Beggars/XL. For a few days I didn’t know who they were, and what we did may never be heard—but I got to take them to their first Carnival party. [It was] in London, and we got to listen to ‘A Milli,’ by Lil Wayne, almost 100 times. In the end I learned a lot about production from them—their album came out a year later, and it was just the demos I had heard before our sessions. They went in with four or five other producers—I realized that sometimes doing nothing is the way to go when the music is that concise and real already.”

“Back in 2008 I was stalking these two artists in London, Skream and Benga. I had seen them D.J. in a small bar called Plastic People and got their phone number, and asked to hang out and listen to music. Skream was very put off and ignored me until I booked him to play my house party in Philly later the next year. Along with myself and others, he has been one of the most influential figures to usher in the sound of dubstep to the U.S.A.”

“Lunice is a new artist in my Mad Decent camp. Montreal-born and raised, his work has always been a steady diet of down-South hip-hop and trap-beat-oriented dance music. Finding a home with the Scottish label Lucky Me, he also has a home base within the super-critical circle of kids that watch the Boiler Room series from Red Bull TV. I played this show also along with Dillion Francis and Jack Master—Lunice stole the show.”

“One of my first bookings in Russia was in 2007 at a small private club. Back then you couldn’t even put a party in Time Out Moscow because too many of the new Russian snobs would come to a fashionable event and ruin the party. Leg was my promoter then, and I’ve been back with him a few times to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I’ve seen him have a baby boy, eventually growing out of Russia and moving to Barcelona. He will always be a good friend of mine.”

“Lee [‘Scratch’] Perry is a legend to me­—he ushered in a new attitude about what being a producer actually is. He is also never swayed in what he believes in, in what his music says. He is driven by his own notions of what the process is, and how far you can push music in Jamaica. He helped to launch Bob Marley’s career in his early days, and keeps being a counterpoint for reggae and dub music worldwide. We spent a day in the studio around his Carnival performance in 2010.”

“This is my first time at Strawberry Hill outside of Kingston. Our assistant in Jamaica, Claire—who would round up contracts and studio time for you—brought us up to [Island Records founder] Chris Blackball’s hotel. Her father was a manager there. I never realized how breathtaking the country was until I saw the city from up top. Shane caught me trying to write some notes on my BlackBerry, standing on a little invisible step of the infinity pool.”